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More division expected after passing of Egypt referendum

Matt BrownUpdated
Wed Dec 26 08:29:00 EST 2012

Two thirds of voters in an Egyptian referendum have supported constitutional changes that give added powers to the president, Mohammad Morsi and entrench Sharia Law as the basis for Egyptian law. More division is expected with the referendum passed amidst claims of voting irregularities and only 33 per cent of the population voting.

Transcript

DAVID MARK: In Egypt the referendum supporting changes to the country's constitution has been passed.

Almost two-thirds of Egyptians voted in favour of the changes, but the turn-out was low - with only 33 per cent of the population casting a vote.

The referendum gives added powers to the president, Mohammad Morsi and entrenches Sharia law as the basis for Egyptian law.

The opposition, though, is demanding an inquiry into alleged voting fraud.

Matt Brown is our Middle East correspondent.

MATT BROWN: The government dominated by the supporters of president Mohammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood is eager now to paint this as an end to the divisions and urging people to move on and get on and repair the economy and usher in the stability that they've promised.

The prime minister Hisham Qandil has said that there will be no losers, there is no loser from this vote, that the constitution will be for all of us, for all Egyptians but Mohamed Elbaradei, the leading opposition figure, the former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency says that it is a sad result because it will institutionalise instability.

Now there were complaints from the opposition that there were irregularities during the vote. For example people who were not judges, who were supervising voting at some polling stations and opposition figures now are saying that the result of the yes vote was exactly the same as the informal tallies that both sides basically agreed on as the vote was taking place indicating in their view that none of their concerns about irregularities were taken seriously because right down to the last decimal place, the informal tally has been maintained and matched by the formal result.

But the Supreme Electoral Committee has said everything was looked at and everything is above board.

DAVID MARK: Well, on that score there have been protests by opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood in recent days and weeks, are those protests going to end now or will they continue given those irregularities?

MATT BROWN: I think they'll continue. They haven't, you know, they haven't generated the kind of people power vibe because you know Egypt is essentially deeply divided. There isn't an overwhelming mood to change the government or to change the presidency and in any case now we are on a two-month countdown to new elections.

So, you will see protests I imagine. They will probably be much more in the form of electoral rallying than anything else.

DAVID MARK: Matt Brown, only 33 per cent of the population turned out to vote for the referendum. What does this say about the overall interest in the question and indeed in democracy in Egypt?

MATT BROWN: Well, that's right. It is not a good sign first of all that there is such deep division over the constitution which after all will be the bedrock for the new democracy and which Mohamed Elbaradei has said is going to be treated as simply an interim document in his view.

But also not a good sign that there is a relatively low turnout. That turnout is much lower for example than the turnout for the parliamentary elections that were held around a year ago.